Especially in this short season, the issue of whether the new NBA champion should have an asterisk next to their name gains traction. It gets it more than ever in the current playoff tournament because of the plague of injuries which has swept over every team. Derrick Rose is lost in Game 1 of the Bulls-Sixers series, Iman Shumpert and Baron Davis were lost in the Heat-Knicks series to catastrophic knee injuries. Jeremy Lin couldn’t compete in the playoffs because of knee surgery resulting from an injury and Al Horford only recently returned to play for Atlanta in their playoff series from what seemed to be a season-ending pectoral tear. But in a professional sports league, injuries are part of the risks of playing no matter whether they are severe and pervading or minimal. No professional team conducts their season in a ‘bubble’. During the season a coaching staff must deal with personal issues, personnel issues such as injuries and numerous adjustments to the starting lineup, bench, offensive and defensive game plans.

Whether fans and news media see them and report them immediately or after is a separate issue. Now the Eastern Conference semi-finalists have been decided. The Western Conference teams still have yet to complete their first round series’. Whatever happens from here till the new champion is crowned isn’t decided or set in stone due to the injuries. No asterisk should be given to the eventual champion. The players and owners set the events which have transpired this season and it was nothing involuntary, therefore players shouldn’t complain about the rushed season. Fans are interested in the playoffs on TV or at the arena, money has been exchanged and the season which was in doubt late last year has been saved. Now, what is important is for fans to get 1000% of what the players have left to finish out the season and crown a new champion.